TELEVISION IS DESIGNED TO KEEP YOU DUMB

If there is one thing which is popular in this world, it is the huge black box on the wall.

Yes, that thing that makes you not to arrange your furniture before you figure out where it will be fixed on the wall.

The thing I am talking about is non-other than the television.

It is the one thing that millions of folks have come to believe that it is the source of all the truth about what is going on in the world. It is the thing that people are looking forward to get to know what favorite move their celebrity made. Did Kanye west divorce Kim Kardashian? Did Jayz just release his 4:44 album and diss Kanye west in one of his songs?

It is the thing that Americans check dairy hoping that Donald Trump got involved in an accident that probably ended his life so that they can do another election in which they can get to choose their favorite leader without getting cheated by again by the Russians.

It is the thing that Kenyans check daily to see what political news is trending lately. Did Raila Odinga just announce that he will be running again for the presidential elections in 2022 or did he just say that he will be supporting Kalonzo Musyoka.

Did Uhuru Kenyatta just say that he will not be supporting Mr. Ruto in 2022 for his presidential bid?

But, did you know that the television is designed to keep you dumb and your eyes just fixed on the screen for hours on edge?

You did not know, right?

I am here to save you, here are the facts.

THE NEWS

What people don’t get to realize is that the information that reaches them through the TV is hugely manipulated. It is hugely manipulated in such a way that the truth about what is going on in the world never gets to reach the local people who are at the bottom of the social pyramid.

To explain to you what I am talking about here when I am talking about the social pyramid, I will give you a scenario.

Take for example a local Kenyan who owns a television. This Kenyan is an individual who is at the complete bottom of the Pyramid. The only thing that he or she can afford is to buy that TV and feed himself and his family enough so that they can get enough time to look at the television. Then there is the Kenyan at the top who has all the resources. He owns the businesses and everything. He is the one that is making the news that is supposed to be relayed to the Kenyan at the bottom through the TV.

This Kenyan at the top knows that he wants to make money through manipulating the Kenyan at the bottom to buy whatever products that he produces.

“How do I do that?” the Kenyan at the top of the pyramid will ask himself.

“First, I will have to attract as much attention as I can manage to get to the television so that I can then place advertisements on the television.”

So, this elite Kenyan will research on what kind of stories that have the ability to keep Kenyans glued to their little box all day long and then give them just those stories.

Do you get what I am talking about?

First of all, the television owners know that people love conflict.

You can tell me that I am wrong, but then, I would have to ask you why you spend all that time watching action packed movies and if you are a woman, why do you spend all that time watching romantic movies which involve two lovers that never seem to get along.

Once the television owners have realized that people love conflict, they will then spend their whole life time trying to figure out which parts of the world there are conflict. Once they manage to figure this out, then they will spend the rest of their time airing this.

Ask yourself this, why don’t we ever get to see any countries offering their donations but once there is a war break out CNN will rush there to record all the bad parts and then air these bad parts to all over the world?

Take for example what airs in international TV channels about Africa.

Ask anyone who has never been to an African country.

They will tell you what really happens in Africa:

“In Africa the only things that are abundantly present include: A lot of HIV/AIDs infections, a lot of jiggers, a lot of people killing their neighbors over oil, hunger and poverty,” a normal foreigner will answer you.

But is this the reality in real sense?

True, there are some few parts of Africa where all the above is happening. But there is also the huge part of Africa where there is peace and people are neither poor nor hungry. But do these television channels ever show these parts?

NO!

Why?

The answer is simple. Stories about parts of Africa that are peaceful and doing well with their economy can never attract enough attention to sustain you staring at the black box as you consume advertisements every now and then.

So, what does this news help you with? I will tell you what. Only two things:

Keep you stressed thinking that the world is ending since every country in Africa is fighting and Ebola has already spread all over Africa and Asia

Keep you stressed because you saw that advert of the perfect BMW that you need to own in order to be considered a man by the society.

THE REALITY TV SHOWS

Even the dumbest person on earth can realize that reality TV shows are never anything that we can actually call close to real.

People just literally watch TV shows in order to be able to enjoy the temporary feeling that just maybe they are more important than the characters that they see portrayed in the shows.

According to Mike Reiss, “Some people may watch reality TV partially because they enjoy feeling superior to the people being portrayed. People with a strong need for vengeance have the potential to enjoy watching people being humiliated.”

Have you ever had the chance to sit with women who were watching these reality TV shows?

I have, all that you can hear these women say is things like:

“UGH! look at her hair, who the hell keeps such a fucked-up hair style!”

“I can’t even believe that she actually she said that, she is such a bitch!”

This judgement does not stop there. It is deeply ingrained into people’s minds and it spills all over their personal lives.

In essence, all that the reality television shows do is that they will not make you any better, in fact, they will make you even dumber. As a matter of fact, they are ruining the society.

TV SEPARATES YOU FROM YOUR FAMILY

Here is what happens in a normal family.

Dad and mum goes to work and leave the kids with the caretaker who prepares them for school and the puts them on the school bus.

Then the family meets again in the evening and sits in front of the TV “Getting informed” on what happened in the country the whole day before they all retire to bed.

Then tomorrow the same loop repeats itself and before anyone in the house knows it, the kids are already mature and they are moving out of the house without having had time to interact with their parents.

TV IS A WASTE OF TIME

Everyone is claiming that they don’t have enough time.

That same “everyone” watches approximately 4hours of TV every day.

Let’s be realistic here people:

4 hours a day is the same as 1460 hours of TV watching each and every year.

This is an equivalent of 61 days in a row watching Television.

2 fucking months of watching TV and doing nothing!

And then the very same people will claim that there is no enough time to do that thing that they have always wanted to do with their lives.

HOW CAN THIS BE CHANGED?

Maybe you are expecting a long rant on how to change all this.

I got no rant to put under this subheading folks, just a few words:

THROW THE FUCKING TELEVISION AWAY!

WRAPPING UP

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Who is Mathenge Maina?

Coffee addict. I like to create through words. When I am not writing i am most likely seen carrying some chemical engineering books or trying to figure out what the next big idea will be. I am just trying to change the world one word at a time. Read about me here.